Using Cell Phones in Brazil

[Jan 156]

A couple of basic things which might help.

If you go out of Rio. Even just a little way upstate. Your prepaid SIM will run down fast than ice-cream on a hot day.

Rio Sul Shopping is user-friendly (one or two people there can speak some English) but allow plenty of time.

TIM is maybe the easiest (in my experience and maybe the most mentioned on this board, but I might be wrong).

You can buy a SIM with no questions asked for a four or five reis in Uruguiana (Saare) market. But you will probably need to get a registered Brasilian to unlock it.

If you get stuck, for instance, topping up your card with the endless Porto recorded messages, your local newstand (where you bought the re-charge) is your friend.

The best place for your mobile phone is down the front of your jeans. (Or your hotel safe.)

Skype is often cheaper. Even to landlines and mobile phones.

[TheAlvarez1001]

You can find answers to all your questions here:

http://www.oi.com.br/

http://www.vivo.com.br/

http://www.claro.com.br/

http://www.tim.com.br/

Thanks for the links but my portugues is not the best! And I know these operators from their websites. Sorry man but this is not really helpfull.

[Poucolouco]

Thanks for informations. What about "OI" and "VIVO" and "CLARO"? For citys like RJ+SP and maybe Foz do Iguacu.

You can find answers to all your questions here:

http://www.oi.com.br/

http://www.vivo.com.br/

http://www.claro.com.br/

http://www.tim.com.br/

[Erectus Indicus]

Sometimes the prepaid cards in the TIM store on the second floor are sold out, so you will have to go to the Lojas Americanas store in the fourth floor (the floor where there is a Starbucks) and buy a sim card there.

If you want a micro SIM make sure you get the right one. Then there is a small TIM store on the same floor, just around the corner. You can get it activated there. Of course, take your passport with you.

[Baggio67]

Thanks for informations. What about "OI" and "VIVO" and "CLARO"? For citys like RJ+SP and maybe Foz do Iguacu.

I have had OI, it wasn't as good as TIM in RJ for me. Furthermore, I think I had to use a friend's CPF number to get a prepaid sim card from them. With TIM, I have been able to get sim cards with my passport.

I tired a Vivo once and the required CPF as well and did not get it because I did not have access to a CPF number at the time.

[TheAlvarez1001]

Thanks for informations. What about "OI" and "VIVO" and "CLARO"? For citys like RJ+SP and maybe Foz do Iguacu.

[Baggio67]

Check the Tim coverage map. 3G is supported but frequency varies depending on the Bairro.

http://www.tim.com.br/portal/site/Po...stado=26&#mapa

I can't get the map to work for me, but if you have a world phone like an iPhone that is quad band 850/900/1800/1900, plus I think it has 2200 for 3G as well you should be good to go anywhere in the world.

[Poucolouco]

I have tried the various carriers in Rio and from my experience you will get better coverage from TIM. I am sure TIM will be good in SP as well. I do not have any info in Iguacu.

Check the Tim coverage map. 3G is supported but frequency varies depending on the Bairro.

http://www.tim.com.br/portal/site/Po...stado=26&#mapa

[Baggio67]

Hello peoples.

Which carriers you can recommend right now for citys like Rio, SP or Iguacu including internet on smartphones?

I have tried the various carriers in Rio and from my experience you will get better coverage from TIM. I am sure TIM will be good in SP as well. I do not have any info in Iguacu.

[TheAlvarez1001]

Hello peoples.

Which carriers you can recommend right now for citys like Rio, SP or Iguacu including internet on smartphones?

[TheAlvarez1001]

If you're in the north stick to TIM or Oi and for the south choose Claro or Vivo and you will be good to go.

Hello,

Based on which knowledge you recommend the providers?

And means the suspension I can`t buy right now a new SIM-Card in these Brazilian states?

[GreenAndYellow]

"BRASILIA, July 18 (Reuters). Brazil's telecom regulator on Wednesday ordered three leading carriers to stop selling new mobile plans in certain states, an unusually strong punishment in response to rising consumer complaints about dropped calls and spotty coverage.

Regulator Anatel said that, in each of Brazil's 26 states plus the federal district of Brasilia, the company with the poorest service would be unable to sell new plans. The suspension will be effective on Monday and remain in place until the carriers present an investment plan to improve service quality, the agency said.

The suspension is one of the toughest pro-consumer measures taken by the government of President Dilma Rousseff and comes as investors are increasingly concerned about the government's willingness to intervene in the struggling economy.

"A growing client base needs to be accompanied by more investments," Anatel head João Batista de Resende told reporters, adding that the regulator had tracked growing customer service complaints for over a year.

TIM Participações, the Brazilian unit of Telecom Italia, will be prohibited from selling new plans in 19 states. Grupo Oi will be barred from selling in five states and sales by Claro, a unit of Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim's America Movil, are banned in three states.

Telefonica Brasil, a unit of Spain's Telefonica, will not have its sales suspended, but must present plans within 30 days to improve service or face sanctions.

Providers violating the sales bans will be fined 200, 000 reais ($99, 000) per day."

http://in.reuters.com/article/2012/0...8IICEF20120718

Per Businessweek: "The ban on Claro included Sao Paulo, the nation's most populous state, and Tim was blocked in the second- and third-biggest states, Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro."

http://www.businessweek.com/news/201...aro-in-20-days

If you're in the north stick to TIM or Oi and for the south choose Claro or Vivo and you will be good to go.

[Java Man]

"BRASILIA, July 18 (Reuters). Brazil's telecom regulator on Wednesday ordered three leading carriers to stop selling new mobile plans in certain states, an unusually strong punishment in response to rising consumer complaints about dropped calls and spotty coverage.

Regulator Anatel said that, in each of Brazil's 26 states plus the federal district of Brasilia, the company with the poorest service would be unable to sell new plans. The suspension will be effective on Monday and remain in place until the carriers present an investment plan to improve service quality, the agency said.

The suspension is one of the toughest pro-consumer measures taken by the government of President Dilma Rousseff and comes as investors are increasingly concerned about the government's willingness to intervene in the struggling economy.

"A growing client base needs to be accompanied by more investments," Anatel head João Batista de Resende told reporters, adding that the regulator had tracked growing customer service complaints for over a year.

TIM Participações, the Brazilian unit of Telecom Italia, will be prohibited from selling new plans in 19 states. Grupo Oi will be barred from selling in five states and sales by Claro, a unit of Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim's America Movil, are banned in three states.

Telefonica Brasil, a unit of Spain's Telefonica, will not have its sales suspended, but must present plans within 30 days to improve service or face sanctions.

Providers violating the sales bans will be fined 200, 000 reais ($99, 000) per day."

http://in.reuters.com/article/2012/0...8IICEF20120718

Per Businessweek: "The ban on Claro included Sao Paulo, the nation's most populous state, and Tim was blocked in the second- and third-biggest states, Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro."

http://www.businessweek.com/news/201...aro-in-20-days

[Jan 156]

If you are able to check the quality of the wifi before booking in to a hotel it is usually worth doing so. For instance, when moving, ask if they have wifi and ask to see a room. Test the password while in the room. Many hotels have wifi. But in some, although it exists, it can be next to useless.

Upmarket coffee shops (like the bookshop / coffee shop) on the corner of I think Rio Branco and Vargas, have great wifi. As with many places, you only need to buy a coffee there once to get the password, then you can connect up while looking at the books or sometimes even standing outside.

IPhone maps seems to store quite a lot of recently used stuff in its cache. So if you look up the roads of an area they may still be there when you have no connection. Or take a screen snapshot. I also keep an offline dictionary with full conjugations.

The thing wifi won't let you do of course is phone chicas. For that you need to be unlocked and get a chip from a store (or one for 5R at the market and play around with it).

[Sunset Strip]

Thanks, ET. Hope all is well with you.

SS